


Darling, You'll Be Okay

by RainbowWarp



Series: Picking up the Pieces [1]
Category: Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asexual Littles, Classifications, Eventual Little!Tony, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Mostly Fluff, Non-Sexual Age Play, Uncle!Phil, daddy!Phil, little!Clint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 19:37:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10837998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainbowWarp/pseuds/RainbowWarp
Summary: Thanks to Howard, Tony has to pretend that he is an Alpha for his whole life. He was never properly tested or classified. Tony tries to hide everything, from sucking his thumb to wetting his bed. Of course, he's pretty awful at it.or5 Times someone realized Tony was a Little and helped him +1 time someone didn't(Don't worry, there's a lot of fluff).





	Darling, You'll Be Okay

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT:
> 
> The timeline of the Avengers movies has been moved around. Clint doesn't get brainwashed by Loki. There are some other small changes throughout, just to help everything make sense. 
> 
> This fic contains diapers, pacifiers, bed-wetting, cribs, and other Non-sexual Age Play elements. If those aren't your thing, don't waste your time. 
> 
> Un-beta'd, All mistakes are my own, so if you see something, shout it out. I might make this part of a series later if anyone is interested.
> 
> (Title from Hold on Til May by Pierce The Veil)
> 
> EDITED 9/5/17 for small grammar issues

Typically, everyone was classified when they were sixteen, so they could get used to their classification with people they were familiar with, their friends and family, before moving out, going to college, or making major life decisions. The most common classifications were Alphas, Caregivers, Betas, Omegas, and Littles. Each Classification had a subset. Alphas could be Masters or Omegas could be Pets. Littles only subsets were ages. Caregivers could be Owners or Mommies and Daddies. Of course, there were some physical effects. Littles were usually shorter, for example. 

Tony Stark didn’t have the luxury of being classified correctly. He had to be an Alpha. Stark men were only Alphas, and if he wasn’t then he would be out of the streets before he could say a word, never to inherit the Stark company or fortune. Howard had never allowed him to test, instead bribing some official or the other to register him as an Alpha. There was no way he would be anything else, so there was no point in letting him test. 

So, Tony forced himself to be an Alpha. He wouldn’t allow himself to take naps, or use sippy cups. He drank whiskey and had sex, even though his body was repulsed by it. He worked through nights and barely slept. He paid constant attention to his bladder.

The first one to notice something off was Edwin Jarvis. 

 

1.

While Howard worked and Maria drank, Jarvis raised Tony as if he was his own. He taught him to walk and talk. He stayed long nights when Tony was sick, nursing him back to health. And he helped Tony sneak wet sheets out of his room at night, well into his teens. He always had his suspicions that Tony would be a little when he got classified, and as often as he told Tony that it was nothing he should be ashamed of, should it happen, Howard always said something contrary whenever he could. It often led to Tony silently sobbing while Jarvis got clean sheets for his bed. They had learned long ago to keep a plastic protector underneath.

Tony scrubbed at his face as he sobbed, biting his lip to silent until drops of blood bubbled through.

Jarvis sighed and drew Tony into a hug, even as Tony tried to escape.

“Shhh, Shhhh, it’s okay. It was an accident, you didn’t mean for it to happen. Nobody will find out. We’ll put some fresh sheets on and you can go back to sleep.” He rubbed Tony’s back as Tony buried his face into his shirt and whimpered.

“I’m not supposed to. Stark men are Alphas. Alphas don’t pee the bed. They don’t have accidents.Why am I messed up, Jarvis?” His voice was scratchy and rough from crying.

“You’re not messed up, Anthony. You don’t have to be an Alpha. Stark men don’t have to be Alphas. Being a Little would be okay.”

“No! Howard says that I’m an Alpha! I have to be an Alpha! He says that Littles are useless and pathetic. He would disown me!”

Howard Stark was the root of all of Tony’s problems.  
“Howard is wrong. Littles are not useless or pathetic. Littles bring happiness to their caregivers and innocence to the world. And if Howard disowned you, you would always have a place with me, Anthony. No matter how you classify, someone will always love you.”

Tony sniffled and rubbed his nose on the back of his hand, and Jarvis had to grab the hand before he stuck the dirty thumb in his mouth.

“I love you too, Jarvis.”

“I’m glad. Now, let’s get these sheets on, and then you can go to bed. It’s late.”

2.

When Tony got to MIT, the first thing he noticed was that there was a special set of dorms for Caregivers and Littles. The brochure claimed that each room was equipped with either a crib or a twin-sized bed with rails, depending on the registered Littles age, and a changing table. Caregivers would have a full-sized bed. Each room was stocked with some generic Little-care items, such as electric socket covers and table corner covers.There were noise curfews and a large common area that had a playpen. Two rooms shared a bathroom, and each bathroom had a tub for the Littles and a smaller walk-in shower for the Caregivers. 

The Alpha dorms, where Tony would be residing, felt much less inviting. Each room was equipped with the bare minimum, as most Alphas preferred providing for themselves. There were two full-sized beds in each room, and a shared shower area full of walk-in showers. The common area was bare except for two long black couches. 

Having claimed one the beds in his room, he laid down a plastic protector and made his bed quickly before his roommate got there. He didn’t have much to unpack, despite being to the heir to a multi-million dollar company. Howard had always made him work for everything he wanted. He didn’t have to wait long before the door opened, revealing a fit dark skinned male Alpha, followed by an older couple, probably the Alpha’s parents. 

Upon seeing Tony, the Alpha looked confused.

“Um...Did...Are you sure you’re in the right place? These are the Alpha dorms, right?”

Tony, at only fifteen, hadn’t been classified yet, but Howard had paid the school to room him in the Alpha dorms, claiming that there was no doubt he would be an Alpha.

“Yeah, these are the Alpha dorms. I got in early, so I haven’t been classified yet. I’m only fifteen. But my dad seems pretty sure I’ll be an Alpha, so...here I am.”

All three newcomers looked extremely dubious.

“Right. Well, I’m James Rhodes. I guess I’ll be your roommate this year, then.”

“Tony Stark. It’s nice to meet you, Rhodey.”

Rhodey, as Tony decided to call him, unpacked with the help of his parents. His side looked much more lived in by the time they finished. When his parents had finally left, it was dark outside. Tony, who had fallen asleep an hour earlier, was a sight to behold. 

Curled in a small ball, on top of his blankets, with his thumb in his mouth. There was no way this kid would be an Alpha. Rhodey wasn’t sure he could do much to help the poor kid. He was an Alpha, not a Caregiver. Littles needed special attention. Tony’s dad was doing him a grave injustice, claiming he would be an Alpha. 

All Rhodey could do was try to help the kid as much as he could. Littles who were prevented from being Little could have some serious side effects. They could develop disorders, spiral into reckless behaviour, and end up hurting themselves. He didn’t want this kid to go through that if he could help it. 

3.

When Pepper Potts was hired, she immediately noticed something was off with her boss. He didn’t seem to know how to take care of himself. He didn’t eat unless someone told him to, he didn’t sleep until he passed out unconscious. He didn’t take a shower unless someone made him, or he’d had someone over.

And then there were the smaller things. 

Tony always had something in his mouth. His thumb, a pen, a screwdriver. He didn’t notice unless she came into the workshop, in which case he scrambled to act like she had seen nothing at all. 

Every time Tony had a woman over, she would always be ushered out as early as possible the next morning, and then Tony would spend the next hour in the shower. She thought she might have heard him crying a few times, but she never brought it up. It wasn’t her business. 

She had double and triple checked, but he was registered as an Alpha. Pepper, as an Alpha herself, didn’t believe it for a second. She didn’t know how he managed to be registered as an Alpha when you only had to spend 10 minutes with him to know he was a Little. The two classifications were the most different set of people you’d ever come across. 

So, she tried to help him, subtly. She tried to keep him away from alcohol. She mentioned Littles who had accomplished great things, and praised Littles who worked in the company. She kicked out the women he brought home. 

It wasn’t enough.

He spiraled after Afghanistan. He drank more, and he was reckless. He partied and had sex with models. Then the Birthday Party happened, and Obadiah Stane happened. Tony suddenly withdrew from everyone. He wouldn’t talk to Pepper or Happy, he stayed in his workshop and changed access codes so nobody could get in.

It took six months for Pepper to convince him to give her access codes back. By that time, Tony had lost weight, he was pale, he looked like he could keel over and die at any second. He refused to go to medical, so she tried her best to get him healthy again. It would be months before he decided he was ready to leave the workshop.

4.

Clint Barton didn’t like when his daddy left. Sometimes, when he really wanted to be with his daddy, he’d follow him, through the air ducts of building or dark corners. He didn’t like when his daddy talked to other Littles. Phil was his daddy, and nobody else’s. 

When his daddy went to talk to Miss Pepper Potts and Mr Tony Stark, he had followed him. Miss Pepper and Mr Tony were registered as Alphas, so Clint wasn’t too worried. He just got clingy sometimes. But he was a toddler, barely four, so what did you expect?

He watched his daddy interrupt what looked like a date. Yuck. Clint didn’t like dates because people kissed a lot, and kissing is gross. 

He didn’t pay much attention to what his daddy was saying, focused only on Tony Stark. Mr Tony was supposed to be an Alpha, but there was no way. Clint was trained to be able to notice body language and social cues. When Mr Tony had picked up on his daddy being a Caregiver, he had tensed. He fidgeted and twitched, and his thumb moved slightly towards his mouth before being held tightly at his side. This was no Alpha. He had to tell his daddy so that Mr Tony could be retested. 

Daddy always said that trying to be big was bad for him, and made him sad and stressed. That was why Clint took a nap everyday and wore pull-ups, but not a diaper, because he was a big boy. Daddy gave him baths every night and if he was really good, sometimes there were bubbles. And Clint only drank from sippy cups because Littles didn’t have the greatest motor skills. He had to focus really hard whenever he used his bow so nobody got hurt, but it was nice to relax and not have to worry about that, so Clint used a sippy cup. 

Mr Tony couldn’t be happy, putting so much effort into being something he isn’t. Clint wondered how nobody had seen it before. 

5.

When Clint had come to him and told him that he suspected ‘Mr Tony’ of being Little, Phil acted immediately. Since someone on the Classification Testing Committee had made the mistake in the first place, Phil brought one of the SHIELD Testers, who had been vetted rigorously before being hired, and a bag of supplies he suspected he might need.

A quick call to Pepper Potts let them know that she had suspected misclassification over the years, but hadn’t known what to do about it. She met them at Stark Tower and brought them to Tony’s penthouse. 

“JARVIS, where is Tony right now?” Pepper asked, looking to a spot on the ceiling.

“Sir is currently in his workshop.”

“Thank you, JARVIS.”

Pepper and Phil went in, asking the Tester to stay in the hall for now. 

Tony was asleep on a couch, thumb in mouth and face scrunched up as he whined, having a nightmare. Phil took the same route he would with Clint. He sat on the edge of the couch and rubbed Tony’s arm. When Tony quieted down, he shook him awake gently.

“Tony? Tony, honey, can you wake up for me?”

Tony shot up, yanking his thumb out of his mouth, and revealing a dark spot on his pants. He looked panicked and confused.

“What’s going on?”

“Tony, it’s come to our attention that you might have been misclassified. We were hoping to get that corrected. Is that okay?”

“I’m not misclassified! I’m an Alpha! I’m not a baby!”

Phil pointedly glanced to the wet spot on Tony’s pants, and Tony blushed.

“I just haven’t left the workshop in a while. I’m not a baby.”

“Tony, please. They want to help you. It’s okay if you’re a Little.” Pepper pleaded.

Tony’s eyes watered and he gave a broken sob.

“No it’s not! I’m a Stark! Stark men are Alphas! I can’t be a baby!”

“Tony, that’s not true at all. It’s perfectly okay to be a Little. Who said you can’t be a Little, honey?”

“H-Howard and Maria said that Littles are useless and pathetic and that Stark men are only ever Alphas.”

Phil wished Howard and Maria Stark were alive right now so that he could kill them himself.

“No, honey. Littles can be whatever they want. My Little, Clint, he’s one of the best marksmen in the world. That’s not useless or pathetic, is it?”

Tony scrubbed the back of his hand across his face.

“N-no. But…” He sniffled, “I can’t do that.”

“You don’t have to do that. Honey, you don’t have to do anything besides be happy and healthy. If you test as a Little, we’ll talk more, okay? I brought someone with me. She’s a Tester at SHIELD. She’d like to test you, okay, honey?”

“...Is she nice?” He asked softly.

“She’s very nice, honey.”

“...Okay. I’ve never been tested before. Howard paid someone to register me as an Alpha.”

Phil’s fury flared at the thought of corrupt Testers. They ruined lives. 

Pepper brought the Tester into the workshop. She looked friendly and inviting, holding a colorful clipboard.

“Hi, Tony. I’m Tester Anna. Today, we’re going to test your classification. Do you know what that means?”

Tony shook his head shyly.

“That’s okay. You’re going to answer a few questions for me, I’m going to take a few measurements, and then we’re going to play some games, okay?”

“...Okay.”

“Great. Now, it’s up to you. You can have Pepper and Phil here, or we can do this alone. What would you like?”

Tony looked panicked.

“Want Pepper and Phil to stay!”

She smiled and marked something on her clipboard. 

“Okay, that’s fine. Let’s begin.”

She asked a series of ten questions, making his answers on her clipboard as they went. Then she measured his height and the length of his limbs, before announcing that they were going to play a game.

“I’m going to show you some animals. I want you to name them. For each one you get right, I’ll give you a piece of candy, okay?”

She pulled a stack of flash cards from her pocket and a bag of small candy.

When Tony nodded his assent, she showed him the first card.

“Horse.”

She gave him a piece of candy and the set the horse card down before showing him the next.

“Um….Turtle.”

She continued the process, giving him candy as he answered correctly until the company of two Caregivers caused him to slip lower into his headspace. 

She showed him the picture of a duck.

“Quack quack!” Tony pointed at the card and giggled before saying the noise again softly to himself.

She smiled, glad that he was already starting to let go. She knew that one he slipped, he wouldn’t be leaving his headspace for a while.

Wanting to encourage him, even though he was wrong, she gave him a piece of candy as she tallied up his score. Unsurprisingly, he was a Little, with his headspace in the 12-24 months range. 

“Okay, Tony, I’ve got your score all tallied up. You’re a Little, about 12-24 months. Do you know what that means?”

Tony shook his head nervously.

“That means that until we can find you a Caregiver, you’re going to stay with Uncle Phil and Clint, okay?”

Tony looked to Phil to see what he had to say about this.

“There will be some changes to your lifestyle, honey, but I think we can all agree that it’s for the better. You’re going to get a crib, won’t that be nice, all snug and safe? And we’re going to try diapers, just in case. Clint wears pull-ups, so you won’t be alone. We’ll take baths and a nap everyday. You’ll be sharing a room so I’ll tell you both a bedtime story every night. We’ll have a nice bottle before bed and when we wake up. You don’t have to worry about anything, okay? Clint is very excited to meet his little cousin Tony.”

Tony, being slightly overwhelmed, didn’t say anything. He just looked at Phil for a few seconds before deciding to put his thumb in his mouth. Pepper had tears in her eyes but she was smiling. 

“Okay, Tony, It was so nice to meet you. I hope you have lots of fun with your Uncle Phil.” Tester Anna said before allowing Pepper to lead her out, leaving Phil and Tony alone.

Phil drew Tony into his arms, conscious of that fact that Tony was still wearing wet pants.

“This won’t be easy for you, honey. But that’s okay. We’re going to work through it, and you’ll be so much happier in the end. Now, how about we get these clothes off of you, and into a diaper, okay? Those pants can’t feel nice.”

Grabbing the bag he had brought with him, he laid out a changing mat on the floor and laid Tony down on it. He peeled Tony’s clothes off, starting with the wet pants. When Tony began to whine, Phil reached into the bag and pulled out a blue pacifier and a soft stuffed bunny. He pushed the pacifier into Tony’s mouth before he could protest, and after a few hesitant suckles, Tony took to it quickly. He laid the bunny on Tony’s chest, and Tony grabbed it and buried his face in it. 

Fussy baby distracted, Phil cleaned the remaining urine, and rubbed some rash cream on to try to help the redness that was forming. With a dash of baby powder, he taped on a diaper and moved on. He pulled out a plain grey onesie and pulled Tony’s head and arms through before closing the five silver snaps at the bottom. A purple pair of pants (at Clint’s insistence) with an elastic waistband and soft black socks completed the look, and Tony was ready. 

Having been exhausted already from a lack of sleep, the baby had fallen asleep during the process. Thankful that Caregivers were stronger than the general population, he picked him up and cleaned up the things he had used. With Tony holding the bunny’s ear and sucking on the pacifier, he looked the perfect picture of a Little.

Hoping to get Tony back to his house, where Tony would be staying until a permanent Caregiver could be found, before he woke, he exited the workshop and made his way to the elevator. Pepper must have called Tony’s chauffeur because he was waiting to take Phil wherever he needed to go, with a brand new Little’s car seat waiting in the back. Careful not to wake Tony up, Phil buckled him in and they were on their way. 

Phil and Clint didn’t have a huge home. They weren’t rich, and they didn’t want a lot of room anyways. But it was comfortable, and safe, and that was what mattered. Clint was waiting for them when they got home, bouncing with excitement.

“Daddy, is that the baby? I wanna see!”

“Shhh, sweetie, the baby is asleep. Remember how we said the baby would need a lot of sleep the first few weeks he was here?”

Clint nodded vigorously, before holding his index finger to his lips and loudly whispering, “Shhhh!”

Phil fondly ruffled Clint’s hair and made his way to the nursery where a white crib with new bedding was waiting, just for Tony. He placed the baby in, careful not to jostle him, before turning on the baby monitor and tiptoeing from the room. 

This was a new beginning for Tony, and Phil would do everything in his power to make sure it went as perfectly as possible.

+1

In Steve’s time, the only people allowed to serve in the army or work for the government, were Alphas or Caregivers. So when he met Tony Stark, he immediately treated him as he would any other Alpha (because there was no way Tony Stark was a Caregiver).

That was his first mistake.

“Put on the suit, Let’s go a few rounds.”

Clint and Tony were required to come in, but had both been in their Little headspaces all day. Phil, as their Caregiver, was required to stay with them at all times. Phil did not take someone insulting either of his Littles well. 

“Rogers! A word, please.”

Clint and Tony, who had become very close, were talking to each other softly, and Steve watched as Tony sniffled and Clint hugged him before glaring in Steve’s direction.

Confused, Steve turned to Phil.

“Captain, I never took you for one to insult a Little.”

Steve froze and his eyes widened.

“I thought government workers and soldiers had to be Alphas or Caregivers.”

“Maybe in the forties, but not today. Tony and Clint are both Littles, and you will not speak to a Little that way. Clint is my Little and I’m fostering Tony, and if either of them shed one tear because of you, I will have you reprimanded so quickly, you won’t be able to say a word. Do you understand?”

Frozen, partly in shame, and partly in shock, he nodded.

“Daddy! Tony needs a change!”

“Nu-uh! Uncle Phil, Clint is being mean!”

Phil sighed.

“It appears I’m needed. Do some research, Steve. Things are different today than in the forties.”

Steve watched Phil walk over to the Littles and expertly take the situation in hand. He had a short conversation with them before leading Tony to the bathroom, presumably for a change.

Clint, who was waiting for them, kept glaring at Steve until they returned. Phil looked meaningfully at Tony who glanced back at Steve. Phil gave Tony a nudge in his direction and Tony shuffled over.

“I’m sorry I called you a lab rat.” Tony said shyly, before looking back at Phil who nodded to him.

“...Um, that’s okay. I’m sorry for the stuff I said, too.”

Steve was not a caregiver, he didn’t understand Littles. They were finicky and fussy, and he was impatient and wanted to get his job done. But he watched as Tony went back to Phil who hugged him, and rubbed his back. With the super soldier hearing, Steve listened in.

“Shhh, it’s okay. You did a good job, honey. You were a good boy. When we go home, how about a special treat, huh? We’ll make cookies.”

Tony nodded eagerly and he and Clint started whispering about how they were going to decorate their cookies. 

Steve didn’t understand how much times had changed. Everything was so different. Bucky had been a Caregiver, but he’d never had a Little, so Steve wasn’t used to them. If Bucky were with him, he would never have forgiven Steve for speaking to a Little like that. Steve would have to make it up to Tony somehow. Littles took insult and punishments much harder than anyone else. 

Phil, noticing how deep in thought Steve looked, decided to help him out.

“Look, Tony will be fine. He’s got a good support system, and he’s already over it. Don’t worry about it. Just don’t do it again.”

Steve didn’t think he’d ever insult someone without asking their classification first, ever again.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to give Constructive Criticism!


End file.
